Who knew Erie was a city everyone should visit?

Story by Cindy O. Herman

In Erie, Chris Temple can look out on Presque Isle Bay and the state park beyond from her office window at VisitErie. She said she likes to walk there with her dog, Santis. “There are open green spaces and a multi-purpose pathway used by bikers and joggers and, of course, dog walkers like me.”

Retail therapy is another favorite pastime for Temple and she is very familiar with the many shops and stores that offer an incredible variety of goods and services in Erie. She mentioned two favorites. Glass Growers Gallery supports regional artists and sells sun catchers, Pysanky eggs, fiber art, jewelry, novelties and more. It also hosts art shows and workshops. The other, Relish Studio and Gallery, features sea glass jewelry and home and gift ideas, most of which are made right there in the shop. It also features regional and national artists along with hosting a beach glass coastal arts festival every other year.

When pressed to suggest three must-see places in her city, Presque Isle State Park was No. 1. With seven miles of beaches it offers outdoor fun with canoes, bikes, paddle boards, kayaks, jet skis and fishing, along with two places where visitors can rent equipment.

“But those beaches, oh my gosh, they’re just beautiful,” Temple said. "Even though it’s connected to the mainland, you don’t feel like you’re in the city. It’s really a neat little oasis that we call our gem attraction.”

Her second suggestion is the 187-foot-tall Bicentennial Tower.

“If you go to the top ... you get views of Lake Erie and Presque Isle Bay. On a clear day you can see over to Canada,” Temple said.

And finally, she says, just get out on that water somehow. Choose from a pirate ship adventure, an educational boat ride, a Victorian princess three-level cruise boat, the flagship Niagara’s day sails, the tall ship schooner Letty G. Howard’s day and sunset sails on a luxury sailboat called Your Sailing Adventure.

“That would be the third thing, to just find a way to get out and experience Erie’s waterfront,” Temple said.

A RECREATION AREA, BUILDING OR PARK PRESQUE ISLE STATE PARK, 301 PENINSULA DRIVE

Presque Isle State Park attracts more than four million visitors each year, making it Pennsylvania’s most visited state park. Between outdoor activities, historical monuments and the sheer beauty of the place, people find it to be the perfect spot for a number of pursuits, said Mary Jo Rutkowski, spokesperson for the park.

With eight guarded beaches and a number of snack offerings, swimming tops the list of Presque Isle recreations. There’s also biking or hiking on the Karl Boyes Multi-purpose National Recreation Trail.

People love to visit the Presque Isle Lighthouse, hike on the historic Sidewalk Trail, tour the Tom Ridge Environmental Center and explore the history at Perry Monument. Lake Erie, Presque Isle Bay and interior ponds offer great spots for walleye, perch, and smallmouth bass fishing.

Boat tours range from educational to adventurous to romantic, or people can explore Presque Isle Bay by kayak, paddle boat or fishing boats. And for people looking for a simpler way to enjoy the park, there’s always birding at Gull Point Natural Area or Frys Landing, or head to Sunset Point and — fly a kite.

For more information: dcnr.pa.gov/StateParks/ FindAPark/ or 814-833-7424

Things To Know

How it began: Erie was named for Lake Erie and the Eriez Native American Indian tribe. Incorporated as a city: 1795

Population: 93,999

Mayor: Joseph V. Schember

Distance from Harrisburg: 296 miles

A Historic Location

ERIE MARITIME MUSEUM, 150 E. FRONT ST.

Few things could have been as thrilling and, yes, scary as boarding a sailboat in the 1800s and setting out in the open sea. The Erie Maritime Museum hosts the U.S. Brig Niagara, one of the most historically authentic tall ships in the United States. It offers three distinctive educational programs, including day sails that allow the public to sail for an afternoon or evening and experience the life of a sailor.

The Erie Maritime Museum also allows visitors to return to the Age of Fighting Sail with an exhibit that invites them to experience the gun deck, an officer’s cabin and navigational tools. Guests can even learn the ropes on an actual mainmast.

“It’s a place where you can really touch and feel history come alive because you get to go on a ship that actually moves and sails,” said Chuck Johnson, museum educator. Learn more: eriemaritimemuseum.org or 814-452-2744

AN INTERESTING SITE BICENTENNIAL TOWER, 1 STATE ST

It must be something programmed into our DNA, but people have always yearned to climb the tallest tree and hike the highest mountains … just to see what they could see. That same urge compels Erie visitors to climb the 210 steps — or to take the elevator — to the top of Bicentennial Tower, the key feature of Erie’s Bayfront and Dobbins Landing, on Presque Isle Bay.

Holly Youngberg, manager at the Tower, said it offers beautiful sunsets on Presque Isle.

“That’s one of the biggest draws here, especially during the summer,” she said.

The Tower was built to celebrate Erie’s bicentennial in 1996 and it’s been a magnet for visitors ever since.

Proving that even after working there for two years, she is still captivated by those views, she added, “I take tons of pictures upstairs. Tons of them.”

Learn more: porterie.org/bicentennialtower/ or 814-4556055

A Place For Kids Of All Ages

THE ERIE ZOO, 423 W. 38TH ST.

Visitors take about two hours to stroll through the Erie Zoo and Botanical Garden, gazing into the faces of nearly 300 animals and absorbing the beauty of 11 gardens.

“A lot of people like us ... ,” said Bryce O’Neal, admissions and gift shop supervisor because we’re a smaller zoo, which is “good for little kids.”

On March 10, 2023, the Erie Zoo introduced two new monkey species into their Hilbert Family Primate Habitat: Allen’s swamp monkeys, Kam and Claira, and lesser spotnosed guenons, Nemo and Georgia. They were all residents of a previous zoo and they were introduced to the colobus monkeys at the Erie Zoo. Officials hope the newcomers and the colobus will become accustomed to one another and make up a mixed-species, arboreal primate habitat.

Learn more: eriezoo.org or 814-864-4091

A QUIRKY/UNUSUAL PLACE MILLIONAIRE’S ROW, 345 W. 6TH ST

You’ll sigh with delight and maybe just a twinge of envy at the grandeur of the homes on Millionaire’s Row. Self-guided tours start at the Watson-Curtze Mansion at the Hagen History Center on West Sixth Street, also known as Millionaire’s Row. The tour includes 11 historical properties within about five blocks.

“It’s one of the only areas in the United States that has had a dedicated foundation restoring the entire historical district,” said Caleb Pifer, executive director of Erie’s Hagen History Center. “We’ve had tens of millions of dollars invested in the last four years to the acquisition and restoration of these properties, which created a beautiful section of street to walk.”

Through the Erie Preservation Trust, these stately old buildings have been restored to their original splendor.

“It’s a way to see multiple restored properties from the height of Pennsylvania’s Industrial Revolution,” Pifer said. Visitors can also opt to see Frank Lloyd Wright’s San Francisco office, which was disassembled there in 1988 and reassembled, board by board, in 2021 at the Hagen History Center at 356 W. Sixth St. It’s part of the Great Wright Road Trip, which explores nine Wright structures between the Laurel Highlands of Western Pennsylvania and Buffalo, New York.

Learn more: eriehistory.com or 814-454-1813

A MEMORIAL OR MONUMENT

ERIE HARBOR NORTH PIER LIGHT, 2 LIGHTHOUSE ST. Built to guide ships away from dangerous shallows and into safe harbors, lighthouses appeal to our sense of looking out for the other guy. Even after the Erie Harbor North Pier Light was destroyed in 1857 when a schooner crashed into it during a fierce storm, local citizens knew how important it was to keep that beacon shining — they hung a light from a gallows to guide ships until a new lighthouse could be erected.

According to PresqueIsleLighthouse.org, the original tower was built in 1830 and powered by whale oil. It had to be constantly tended by the lighthouse keeper and an assistant, who lived in nearby cottages.

After several extensions and remodels, North Pier Light was extended one last time in 1940 when it was moved to its current location and encased in steel panels painted with distinctive white and black stripes. Its square — pyramidal design is the only surviving example of this type left in the United States. In 2021, the plucky lighthouse was included in a series of lighthouses on U.S. postage stamps.

Learn more: presqueislelighthouse.org/learn/north-pierlight or 814-833-360